The present invention relates to an infant care apparatus and, more particularly, to an apparatus with an infant compartment having a canopy that moves in a vertical direction and seals against upstanding vertical panels forming that infant compartment.
There is, at the present, a type of infant care apparatus that combines the function of an infant warmer having a planar surface for supporting an infant with radiant heat directed toward that infant and an incubator where that infant is actually contained within an infant compartment where the surrounding environment for the infant including heat, and possibly humidity, are carefully controlled to improve the well being of the infant.
One such apparatus is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,231,499 B1 of Thomas C. Jones and U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,935 B1 of Mackin et al. With that particular apparatus, there is a canopy that can be raised and lowered with respect to an infant platform. When the canopy is in its upper position, an overhead radiant heater directs infrared energy toward an infant positioned on the infant platform to warm the infant, while, on the other hand, when the canopy is in its lower position, a convective heating system located beneath the infant platform provides heat to the infant.
As can be seen from a review of the aforedescribed U.S. patents, the infant compartment is formed, not only by the hood in its lower position but also by a plurality of vertical upstanding walls that extend upwardly from the infant platform forming a generally rectangular upper peripheral edge when all of the walls are in the vertical position. It can also be seen that at least one of the vertical walls, and preferably three of such walls, can be opened by the user for access to the infant contained within the infant compartment and therefore, those walls are also doors that are pivotally affixed to the infant platform at the lower edge of the doors, such that the user can swing the doors outwardly and downwardly in obtaining access to that infant.
Accordingly, one of the difficulties of such apparatus is that there must be an effective seal between the lower edge of the canopy and the upper peripheral edge of the vertical walls so that the desired thermal environment can be achieved and maintained within the infant compartment when that canopy is in its lower position. Also, at least one of the walls is, in effect, a door that is pivotally affixed to the infant platform so that the door can be opened and closed by the user. As such, the door swings outwardly and downwardly in opening the door and, of course, swings upwardly and inwardly in closing the door. Since the door is operable, that is, it can be opened and closed with the canopy in its lower position, not only must the seal between the canopy and the door be effective with respect to the vertical movement of the canopy, but the seal must also be effective in providing a seal against the upper edge of the door as it pivots about the infant platform.
Too, the seal must be economical to produce and install in order to minimize the cost to the overall apparatus. In addition, since the infant compartment itself is normally humidified, there is considerable moisture present and therefore the seal must be designed so as to not collect that moisture in order to avoid creating a favorable location for the growth of bacteria or simply for collecting water. As a further feature, it would be advantageous to have some means of covering or hiding the mounting hardware so that the outer appearance of the seal, as well as the apparatus itself, is aesthetically appealing.
Accordingly, the present invention relates to an infant care apparatus that has an improved seal located between the lower edge of the canopy and the upper peripheral edge of the vertical walls forming the infant compartment.
With the present invention, the infant care apparatus is of the type previously outlined, that is, there is a canopy that is movable vertically with respect to the infant platform and which has a lower edge that seals against the upper peripheral edge formed by the plurality of vertical walls that enclose the infant compartment. Thus, with the seal of the present invention, there is an efficient seal that is made between the vertically movable canopy and those vertical walls that include a door that can pivot outwardly and downwardly. The seal of this invention is effective in both instances, that is, against the canopy vertical movement as well as against the rotational movement of the door.
The seal of this invention is a one piece or unitary extruded construction so that it can be produced, stored and shipped relatively inexpensively. Also, the seal is comprised of differing materials with each material having different properties of flexibility. There is an elongated flange of a generally rigid material that is used to affix the seal to the lower edge of the canopy and which seal thereby extends along that lower edge and around the entire lower peripheral edge of the canopy. The elongated rigid flange is preferably constructed of a plastic extrudable material such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
That rigid flange has a sealing flap that extends at an angle downwardly and inwardly from the lower portion of the elongated flange toward the infant compartment and preferably that sealing flap has a generally planar upper surface so that any moisture that is formed on the generally planar edge simply drips downwardly by the force of gravity and falls from the sealing flap so that moisture is not retained or collected on the seal.
The sealing flap is comprised of a material that is more flexible that the rigid material used for the flange that affixes the seal to the lower edge of the canopy. By more flexible, it is meant that the sealing flap is a flexible material that also has good sealing properties, and one material that has been found to be well suitable for such material is a polyolefin that is available from Advanced Polymer Alloys under the name ALCRYN. Thus, while the PVC for the flange is a rigid material, the sealing flap is com of a flexible material of about 80 A Shore durometer and therefore more flexible than the material used for the sealing flap. That material is flexible and yet provides a good seal against the upper vertical walls and does not have a material that migrates to the surface, as does PVC, that eventually become sticky and adheres to the surface of the vertical walls and cause a sticking problem upon the opening of those vertical walls when employed as doors.
In addition, such material, albeit having a differing flexibility than the rigid polyvinyl chloride material of the flange, can be co-extruded along with the flange such that the overall seal of this invention can be readily extruded as a single, unitary piece construction with the differing materials in the extrusion and thus is relatively convenient and inexpensive to produce.
The seal also has a cover flap that extends downwardly from the upper edge of the elongated flange and encloses the outer surface of the flange. As such, the cover flap is used to cover the mounting hardware, such as screws, that secure the elongated flange to the lower edge of the canopy so as to improve the overall appearance of the seal and the infant care apparatus itself. The lower or distal end of the cover flap is also releasably affixed to the elongated flange by an interlocking arrangement where the lower or distal edge of the cover flap can be easily locked into a suitable shaped recess formed in the lower area of the elongated flange.
Thus, that lower, distal edge of the cover flap can be secured to the elongated flange along the entire length of the elongated flange so as to provide a good appearance of the seal and the infant care apparatus. The interlocking of the distal edge of the cover flap and the recess of the elongated flange can readily be accomplished similar to the functioning of a zip lock by the user simply moving a pressure means, such as a finger, along the cover flap to secure it within the recess of the elongated flange and the distal edge of the cover flap can be just as easily detached from the elongated flange.
Obviously, the cover flap is unsecured when the elongated flange is being mounted to the lower edge of the canopy so that access can be had to the screws or other type of mounting hardware and when that mounting is complete, the user can readily affix or lock the distal edge of the cover flap to the recess formed in the lower area of the elongated flange to complete the assembly of the seal to the canopy.
Again, by the process of co-extrusion, there is a material having more flexibility than the rigid material that forms the elongated flange and the cover flap and that more flexible material is co-extruded into the seal as the extrusion process takes place and which forms a flexible hinge in the seal between the upper edge of the elongated flange and the upper portion of the cover flap. As such, the cover flap is flexibly affixed to the upper edge of the elongated flange and can more easily be manipulated to lock and unlock the distal edge of the cover flap to the lower portion of the elongated flange. In the preferred embodiment, as stated, the rigid material used for the flange and for the cover flap itself is preferable polyvinyl chloride while the more flexible material used to form the more flexible hinge intermediate the elongated flange and the cover flap is ALCRYN.
With the use of the differing materials used in the co-extrusion of a unitary seal, there is a significant difference in the flexibility of the ALCRYN material and the polyvinyl chloride material such that the former material acts well as a sealing material for the sealing flap as well as a flexible material that is well suited to be used in the formation of a hinge intermediate the rigid, elongated flange and the cover flap.